With the Democratic National Convention just days away, a white-powder scare resolved quickly this afternoon, when the return address led federal agents to an inmate in the Arapahoe County Detention Facility.

Within hours of the 3 p.m. scare the Centennial campaign office of Republican presidential candidate John McCain, authorities announced that the powder was phony and that the writer appeared to be Marc Harold Ramsey.

The 39-year-old has been in jail since last September, unable to post the $350,000 bond on charges of felony charges of menacing, harassment and assault on a peace officer, according to the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office.

“He is a prolific writer of threatening letters,” said U.S. Secret Service Agent Malcolm Wiley.

The inmate’s words led five McCain staffers in Centennial to rush themselves to the hospital. Twelve others were evaluated after their office near South Peoria Street and East Arapahoe Road was swarmed and quarantined by local, state and federal authorities.

The Colorado National Guard, U.S. Postal Inspectors Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Secret Service quickly assisted in the investigation.

Bruce Williamson, bureau chief for the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office would not elaborate on the wording of the letter.

“Whatever the letter said, it was troubling enough that people drove themselves to the hospital,” he said.

Minutes after news of the scare in Centennial spread, a McCain campaign worker in Manchester, N.H., noticed an envelope addressed to McCain, handwritten with a return address to Denver.

The office was evacuated, but the letter was later found to have no powder. It appeared to be unrelated to the Colorado case, investigators in New Hampshire said.

Joey Bunch was a reporter for 12 years at The Denver Post before leaving to join The Gazette in Colorado Springs. For various newspapers he has covered the environment, water issues, politics, civil rights, sports and the casino industry. He likes stories more than reports.

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